Picture-hanger



P.'J. GOBLE.

PICTURE HANGER.

APPLICATION men SEPT-3,1920.

Patented Dec. 13, 1921.

ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PICTURE-HANGER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 13, 1921.

Application filed September 3, 1920. Serial No. 408,019.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PAUL J. Gonna, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented new and use ful Improvements in Picture-Hangers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a picture hanger adapted to be secured to the back of a picture and to be directly connected to a nail or other supporting means.

The objects of the invention are to provide a picture hanger of this character which will frictionally and snugly engage the head of a nail or like supporting member to prevent accidental displacement of the picture frame from the wall or the like; to provide a picture hanger which will positively prevent lateral movement of the picture on its support and which will support the picture and prevent its falling from the wall in practically any position except upside down; to provide a picture hanger of this character which is formed with means to indicate the position on the wall at which the nail should be placed by merely pressing the picturewith the hanger properly at tached against the wall; to provide such a device adapted for use with both small and large pictures; to secure a picture hanger which is extremely simple and inexpensive in construction, and to obtain other results and advantages as may be brought out by the following description.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, in which like numerals of reference indicate the same parts throughout the several views,

.Figure 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of the back of a picture frame showing a picture hanger embodying my invention applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detached perspective view of a modified form of my invention;

Fig.4 is a perspective view of a still further modification of my invention, and

Fig. 5 is a central vertical sectional view through the form of the invention illustrated by Fig. 4.

A picture hanger constructed in accordance with my invention may be conveniently formed of a single strip of sheet metal, and

comprises a body portion 1 having the ends thereof laterally offset as at 2, and the said ends may be reduced in size to form ears to receive suitable fastening members such as the nails or screws 3 to secure the hanger to the back of a picture. Substantially centrally of the length of the hanger a notch 4 is formed in the edge of the hanger opposite the ears 2 at a distance to one side of a line extending through the fastening members 3, the said notch being of a width slightly greater than the diameter of the shank of the nail, screw, or like supporting member upon which the picture is to be hung, and the length of the notch 4 is slightly greater than the diameter of the head of the nail, screw, or the like. The notch 4 extends transversely of the body portion 1 of the hanger and 1s formed at its inner end with an outwardly projecting tongue or flange 5 which may be conveniently formed integrally with the body portion I by extending the notch 4 and bending the material between the sides of the notch outwardly, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, at substantially right angles to the body portion 1.

In hanging a picture with my improved picture hanger, the center of the side of the picture frame A upon which the hanger is to be placed is located, and the hanger secured substantially centrally of the said side of the frame by means of the fasteners 3 passing through the ears 2. The picture may then be pressed against the wall so as to cause the tongue or flange 5 to make an impression in the wall, and the said impression indicates the position at which the nail, screw, or like supporting member should be placed to support the picture in the position at which it is desired to hang the same. The nail 6 is then driven into the wall or other supporting structure so that the head 7 thereof projects a distance from the wall substantially equal to the length of the tongue, after which the notch 4 of the picture hanger is slipped over the shank, the head of the nail being received between the back of the picture frame and the body portion 1, the body portion 1 being spaced such a distance from the picture frame as to frictionally engage the head 7 of the nail. The head 7 is thus snugly and frictionally gripped between the back of the picture and the hanger so that accidental displacement of the picture from the wall is practically prevented, and the picture will be supported upon the nail and prevented from falling from the wall in substantially any position except up-side-down, the sides of thenotch 41: preventing both downward and lateral movement of the picture frame on the wall. As the picture hanger is centered on the frame, it will be obvious that the action of gravity will always cause the picture to assume an upright and square position upon the wall and if the picture is accidentally tilted the action of gravity will cause it to return to its normal position. Ifthe weight of the picture tends to cause the lower end thereof to swing toward the wall, it will be seen that this swinging is allowed by the springing of the picture hanger, due to the position of the notch 1 at one side of or out of alinement with the fastening members 3,

o and such movement of the picture only increases the tightness of the engagement of the picture hanger and frame withthe head 7 of the fastening member. 7

A modified form of my invention isshown in Fig. 3, in which the hanger 8 is formed of slightly heavier sheet material and 1s considerably longer, thistype of hanger being. especially adapted for the hanging of larger pictures or articles. The hanger 8 is provided with spaced notches 9 in one edge thereof corresponding to the notch 4 in the form of the hanger above describechthe said notches 9 being adapted to receive two spaced fastening members on the wall or like structure, thereby increasing the strength of the support for large picture. The notches 9 are provided with flanges or tongues '10 corresponding to the tongue 5 above described and for the same purpose. The hanger 8 is applied to the picture substantially centrally of one side 'ofthe frame thereof in thesame manner as above described in connection with the hanger 1.

A "further modification of my invention is shown vin Figs. 4 and 5 in which the body portion of the hanger is formed with a de pressed portion 11 offset from the body portion in the direction of the supporting ears 12, the said depressed portion being adapted to receive the ends 13 of a supporting easel 141. The depressed portion thus serves as a pivot sleeve for the ends 13 of the easel, and

may be formed in any suitable manner as by thereof engage behind the body portion of the hanger at the sides of the slots 15 opposite the depressed portion 11. The easel 14 may thus swing with respect to the hanger and operates in the usual manner to support a picture orother article to which the hanger is attached.

While I have shown a few specific forms of my invention, it will be understood that many modifications and changes 'may be made in the detailconstruction of the hanger without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention, and I do not desire to be understood aslimiting myself except as required by the following claims when con strued inthe light of the prior art.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is: r

1. A hanger including a' body portion of a strip of sheet metal adapted to be secured at its ends to an article to be hung, said body portion having a portion thereof offset so as to be spaced from said article and having a slot in said offset portion opening through the lower edge thereof out of alinement with the portions thereof fastened to said article to receive a headed supporting'member with the head thereof frictionally received between said body portion and the said article,

whereby said hanger may yield to allow the article to swing at an angle to the support and at the same time produce tight frictional from said endsa distance less t an the thick I ness of the head of saidsupporting member, a slot being formed in said offset portion and'opening through the lower edge thereof to receive-the shank of said headed supporting member, the head of said member being frictionally received between said hanger and said article to'restrain movement of the Isupported article from the supporting mem- 3. A device of the character described including a hanger adapted to be secured to an article to be supported, said hanger being formed with a notch to receive a supporting member, a projection being provided at the inner end of said notch to engage the structure on which the article is to be supported to indicate the position at which the supporting member should be placed.

4:. A device of the character described in- I tongue projecting outwardly from said body ally offset and adapted to be secured to an portion and being adapted to engage the article to be supported, said body portion structure on which the article is to be hung having a portion thereof struck outwardly l to indicate the position at which the supin the direction of said laterally ofiset ends 5 porting member should be placed. to form pivot openings adapted to receive 5. A device of the character described inthe ends of a supporting easel. eluding a body portion having its ends later- PAUL J. GOBLE. 

